In the beginning there are three things the prospective builder should know by heart.
First - Good work costs much more than poor imitation or factory. There is no honest way to get something for nothing.
Second - No house however expensive can be a success unless you, the owners, give the matter time and thought enough to know what you want it for. By success I mean all things necessary to your comfort and happiness in the life you are obliged to lead.
Third - you must employ someone who is broad enough to understand and sympathize with you and your needs and yet has the ability to put them into shape from the artist's point of view.
If one tries to do these things one will have accomplished something of permanent value in the world for others as well as oneself. If after trying one succeeds in all these three things one will have a lasting pleasure.
The style of a house should be as far as possible determined by four conditions:
First - Climate.
Second - Environment.
Third - Kinds of material available.
Fourth - Habits and tastes - i.e. life of the owner.
The intelligence of the owner as well as the ability of the architect and skill of the contractor limit the perfection of the result.
As to environment - in such a place as California with people in easy circumstances and willing enough, it is plain to see how the architect must be what he is - for better or worse - a man dependent upon his own power of expression rather than that of rigid custom.
Charles Sumner Greene, (paraphrased from) "Bungalows",
The Western Architect, July 1908
First - Good work costs much more than poor imitation or factory. There is no honest way to get something for nothing.
Second - No house however expensive can be a success unless you, the owners, give the matter time and thought enough to know what you want it for. By success I mean all things necessary to your comfort and happiness in the life you are obliged to lead.
Third - you must employ someone who is broad enough to understand and sympathize with you and your needs and yet has the ability to put them into shape from the artist's point of view.
If one tries to do these things one will have accomplished something of permanent value in the world for others as well as oneself. If after trying one succeeds in all these three things one will have a lasting pleasure.
The style of a house should be as far as possible determined by four conditions:
First - Climate.
Second - Environment.
Third - Kinds of material available.
Fourth - Habits and tastes - i.e. life of the owner.
The intelligence of the owner as well as the ability of the architect and skill of the contractor limit the perfection of the result.
As to environment - in such a place as California with people in easy circumstances and willing enough, it is plain to see how the architect must be what he is - for better or worse - a man dependent upon his own power of expression rather than that of rigid custom.
Charles Sumner Greene, (paraphrased from) "Bungalows",
The Western Architect, July 1908
